A00623 - Horace Ward, Civil Rights Attorney and Federal Judge

Civil Rights Attorney, Federal Judge Horace Ward Dead at 88

ATLANTA — A civil rights lawyer who became Georgia's first black federal court judge has died.

Retired U.S. District Judge Horace Ward died Saturday at age 88. Funeral arrangements are pending, said Alfonso Dawson Mortuary funeral director Andre Hannah in Atlanta.

Ward challenged segregationist practices at the University of Georgia in the early 1950s.

He had earned degrees from Morehouse College and Atlanta University, which later became Clark Atlanta. But his application to the University of Georgia law school was rejected in 1951, despite his qualifications. He launched a legal challenge against the university that helped pave the way for the civil rights movement.

Ward, from LaGrange Georgia, went on to earn a law degree from Northwestern University. He returned to Georgia in the late '50s and helped in another desegregation push that led to UGA admitting two black students, Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. Holmes later became the first black student to be admitted to the Emory University School of Medicine and Hunter — now known as Charlayne Hunter-Gault __ went on to become an award-winning journalist.

Ward served in the Georgia Senate between 1965 and 1974 and was appointed to the federal bench in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

He took senior judge status in 1994 and retired from the Northern District of Georgia in 2012. Ward delivered a lecture on race relations at UGA in 2003 and was given an honorary degree from the university in 2014.

Horace Taliaferro Ward(b. July 29, 1927, LaGrange, Georgia – d. April 23, 2016, Atlanta, Georgia) was known for his efforts to challenge the racially discriminatory practices at the University of Georgia School of Law and was the first African Americanto serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Ward was born in LaGrange, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1949 and received a Master of Arts from Atlanta University (Now Clark Atlanta University) in 1950. He received a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 1959. He was an instructor at Arkansas AM&N College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) from 1950 to 1951 and an instructor at Alabama State College from 1951 to 1953. He was in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, attaining the rank of Corporal.. He returned as an instructor at Alabama State College from 1955 to 1956. He was a claims authorizer for the United States Social Security Administration in Chicago, Illinois, from 1959 to 1960. He was in private practice of law in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1960 to 1974. He was a deputy city attorney for Atlanta, Georgia from 1969 to 1970; and an assistant county attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, from 1970 to 1974. Ward was a Member of the Georgia State Senate from 1965 to 1974. He became a judge of the Civil Court of Fulton County, Georgia from 1974 to 1977, and was a judge of the Superior Court of Georgia from 1977 to 1979.

Ward challenged segregationist practices at the University of Georgia in the early 1950s.

He had earned degrees from Morehouse College and Atlanta University, which later became Clark Atlanta. But his application to the University of Georgia law school was rejected in 1951, despite his qualifications. He launched a legal challenge against the university that helped pave the way for the civil rights movement.

Ward, from LaGrange Georgia, went on to earn a law degree from Northwestern University. He returned to Georgia in the late '50s and helped in another desegregation push that led to UGA admitting two black students, Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. Holmes later became the first black student to be admitted to the Emory University School of Medicine and Hunter — now known as Charlayne Hunter-Gault __ went on to become an award-winning journalist.

Ward served as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on November 1, 1979. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 5, 1979, and received his commission on December 6, 1979. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1993, serving in that status until his death.